


Appointments

by aurilly



Category: Lost
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-25
Updated: 2009-08-25
Packaged: 2017-10-03 00:33:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurilly/pseuds/aurilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Richard has a bad week and Jacob is nowhere to be found.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Appointments

**Author's Note:**

> Written because Richard's cluelessness about absolutely everything baffles me. A kind of explanation is insinuated...

Richard hadn't had a reason to keep track of time since… well, since Jacob had relieved him of the need to think about it. There were no dates, no deadlines. Jacob said that they were headed towards something, but what, Richard never knew. He remembered very little about his long life on the island, but he always assumed that it was because there was very little to remember.

There was a boat here and there---for so long, it was the only way of reaching the island, but nothing that Richard had to work too hard to manage. There were boar roasts and garden harvests, births and deaths, peaceful successions and petty coups. The ramshackle little community was more or less self-sustaining, leaving Richard with more than enough time of his own to do whatever he wanted. His pastimes themselves were timeless: perfecting a ship in a bottle that he would periodically pull apart in order to start over, learning from his mistakes in his quest for perfection; visiting Jacob in the ever-crumbling statue.

The statue. It was the only thing that ever seemed to change. Like a book one of the turn-of-the-century castaways had brought with him---something about a Dorian-something-or-other---it seemed to age and decay and crumble in place of Jacob or Richard.

Sometimes Jacob left the island, but he never forewarned Richard. Walking for miles to find the secret apartment in the statue empty save for the ever-glowing fire was the only thing that ever jolted Richard out of his primordial placidity. However, in a strange way, he appreciated these moments of disappointment. Jarred, mystified---these were reactions humans had, and no matter how many fantastical things he saw as the years went by, Richard was human, or at least never wanted to forget that he had been.

Time slipped by, but bit by bit, life became more troublesome.

For one, the statue began to decay ever more rapidly. Where there had simply been legs ("nice legs" he and Jacob had joked for years) there was then only one leg. Where there had been a leg, there was then only a shin, and so on. The camp had also become more difficult to manage. Squabbles arose more often, and jousts for leadership intensified. The potential leaders themselves were weaker in spirit. The black smoke gusted more dangerously than ever and the sea buffeted the shores of the beach with terrifying vigor. Yes, something different was brewing, but Richard was so used to things being the same that he didn't notice until the changes hit him in the face.

The Americans came with their planes and guns and their swagger. That in itself was nothing dramatic, but the thing they had brought with them---clunky, dangerous, killing his people just by proximity---was like nothing Richard had ever encountered. It was dark and dirty and, for the first time in many mortal lifetimes, Richard was at a loss as to what to do. It even killed the current leader before the next one had been chosen.

And of course, that all happened during a week when Jacob was nowhere to be found.

Richard had never actually been in charge before, and he wasn't even sure if he was supposed to take over in such a case, but without Jacob's guidance, he had to do something. He was still reeling from that when even _more_ people came. There was whole campload of them, but this time no one had spotted a plane or a ship or any means of arrival. Yet another mystery was the last thing Richard needed. And still, Jacob was missing and there was no one to turn to for advice. The stories they told, his compass… Richard had seen a lot, but he'd never seen anything like that before. It was a day to remember, the first crystal-clear day he'd spent in far too long.

Only then, with such strange things happening and Jacob nowhere near did Richard begin to realize how much of his life was hazy.

It was also the day that someone finally gave him a date, an appointment---something to remember.

When Jacob returned from wherever he had been, Richard updated him on everything that had happened over a dinner of fish and some new kind of beverage Richard had never had before. Jacob always knew how to get him out of a bad mood by bringing him presents or saying just the right thing. It helped, just as it always had, but this time, Richard still kept his future appointment with Locke a secret. He didn't know why.

"I think it's time for me to start leaving the island sometimes," he stated, hoping that Jacob would grant his request without too many questions.

"Oh yeah? Why?" Jacob asked with his mouth full.

Richard was cagey. "It's been a long time. I don't feel like I'm in touch with the world that the new recruits are coming from anymore. It makes it hard for me to lead them."

"But you aren't supposed to lead. This week was just… an exception. When you go back to the camp, you should start the initiation process for Eloise."

This was worrisome. "She isn't ready. She's young, and trigger happy and…" Richard thought of a million little details that Jacob, having never lived in the camp, couldn't possibly know. Jacob was always very offhand about these kinds of instructions, orders that would make Richard's day-to-day life very difficult for a few weeks while everyone got used to the idea. Jacob never cared, though, sitting here by himself with his fish and his foot.

He got up and touched Richard on the top of his head. Slowly, all those little memories and worries about Eloise sort of fizzled away. "She'll do fine," he said soothingly.

Richard struggled to hold onto his memory of Locke, not letting it get vaporized along with other things that Jacob definitely knew were worrying him. "I'd like to see New York City," he blurted out as a means of bringing the subject back around to what he wanted.

Jacob laughed. "Right, it wasn't really there back in your day, was it? It's a lot of fun. It'll make you homesick for here, though. You'll see."

Richard leaned back in his chair and drank the last of his fizzy beverage. "Are you saying I can go?"

Jacob tilted his head and stared closely at Richard. "Sure. When do you want to go?"

"It isn't pressing. Maybe in the next couple of years. I'll let you know."

They were quiet for a couple of minutes. Jacob stared into the fire. Finally, Richard became bored and got up to leave. "I should get back and break the news to Eloise."

"Hey, Richard!" Jacob called after him. "Are you feeling alright?"

Richard stopped to turn around. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Just this once, Richard was going to show Jacob what it felt like to be him.


End file.
